Saturday night's Rugby World Cup semi-final between England and South Africa ended in a fiery spat after South Africa won on the back of yet another phenomenal Handre Pollard penalty goal.
It was a match where England had been written off as a canon fodder for a rampant Springboks side who had dumped out the hosts, France, 29-28 only a week prior.
It was only the scrummaging excellence of Bokke cult hero Ox Nche and the goal-kicking of a man who could now be described as the most 'clutch' player in World Cup history in Handre Pollard that was able to deny England a second final in as many tournaments.
The Springboks were largely outplayed and outthought throughout Saturday's encounter. From the removal of their starting fly half on the half hour mark to their lack of a sub-hooker, Rassie Erasmus's side looked bereft of ideas.
Until Ox Nche won consecutive scrum penalties to take them from a defensive scrum on their own 5-metre line to an attacking line out which was finished off by Munster lock, RG Snyman, who has been one of the players of the tournament.
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England v South Africa Rugby World Cup: 'Niggle' and Willie Le Roux
The style of rugby and constant niggle between the sides was like rugby from a different era. With Tom Curry making allegations of racism toward Boks hooker Bongi Mbonambi and Owen Farrell's pure frustration with referee Ben O'Keeffe, this was a match that sat at boiling point for the majority of the 80 minutes.
With the clock in the red, an England knock on at the half way line gave South Africa a win which looked so unlikely with 15 minutes to go. While some Boks fell to their knees, the England team who had looked so likely to do the unthinkable were given one of the all time sprays by South African sub fullback, Willie Le Roux.
Footage from a spidercam of the scenes of at the full time whistle, showed Le Roux picking out multiple England players and to put it mildly, he was giving it stacks.
Ah, so that's what sparked the scrap. pic.twitter.com/AEnS9skB13
— Ben Coles (@bencoles_) October 23, 2023
The England players who, as massive underdogs, had just lost one of the biggest games of their careers in the dying moments were not for taking Le Roux's behaviour lying down. What resulted was a lot of jersey grabbing and some clearly choice words between the players.
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Ox Nche and Ben O'Keeffe
'Rugby values' is a term that is horribly overused in the sport but Le Roux's antics were definitely excessive and demeaned what had been a gripping semi final. All while, Ox Nche was pictured thanking the refereeing team and shaking Ben O'Keeffe's hand amidst the chaos.
𝗥𝗲𝘁𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗳𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀𝘄𝗲 '𝗢𝘅' 𝗡𝗰𝗵𝗲 🤯
Comes off the bench! 🪑
Dominates the scrum! 💯
Shakes the ref's hand while chaos ensues! 🤝#RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/MXTfOOhKz4— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 21, 2023
While Le Roux's behaviour was just utterly unnecessary in the eyes of most, some across social media have viewed it as retaliation for the likes of Ben Earl and Maro Itoje's over celebrating of small moments in the game. Something they've carried over from their time at Saracens.
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1973 - Gareth Edwards scores against the All Blacks.
2023 - Ben Earl witnesses a non-straight Irish lineout throw. #IREvENG pic.twitter.com/sQZa8GFrVM— James Stafford 🇺🇦 (@jpstafford) August 19, 2023
Who could forget Maro Itoje's dancing after an Ireland knock on in this year's Grand Slam decider at the Aviva:
Ireland Grand Slam 2023!!!
I’m off to celebrate like Maro Itoje when theres a knock on #grandslam pic.twitter.com/hzRmEhcFbo— Jim Demps (@jim_demps) March 18, 2023
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